Just This Once
by Hbrook shipping for life
Summary: Template is furious! Another AU is gone and he knows why... But when he goes to confront Pale, all doesn't go as planned.


Template practically jumped through his newly created portal, and landed almost harshly onto the ground with a 'thud'. He felt hot. His bones, his joints, his soul, his magic, his everything was practically _burning._ He was engulfed. He was angry. He was crossed, but mostly, he was exasperated. Another Au just fell right off the face of the multiverse! Gone! Untraceable! Nonexistent! Gone! Gone without even the smallest speck of dust left to even prove that it was there. Gone without explanation… But he _knew_ why, or more likely, who.

Template allowed his gaze to scan the room looking for the one responsible, but he was nowhere to be found. It was just strewn clothes and blotches of ink that decorated the empty, white void that was known as Pale's 'home'. Where was he!?

Usually Pale would come back here after destroying a universe, but this time he wasn't here! How!? With his patience feeling tried, he threw his arms into the air.

"Oh, come on!" He squalled, "Why couldn't he just-"

' _Thump'_

The protector of AU's whipped his head around in the direction of the heavy noise so that he could identify its inflicter, and the picture that captured his gaze was Pale, about fifteen feet away,bearing himself unevenly on all fours with his portal closing itself behind him with a 'snap'.

He felt his anger immediately vanish as it was replaced with concern.

"Pale?"

The blue coated skeleton lifted his head and their gazes clashed. Something was terribly wrong. Pale's entire face was drenched in relief, and it almost worried Template… He was relieved to see him…?

He didn't have the slightest clue which emotion- or possibly emotions the destroyer of AUs was experiencing right now, but he did know that it was different than the others he had seen him go through…

Pale shot up from where he was on the floor, and broke into a run toward him, and Template began to panic. Oh stars. Oh stars, no. He was going to try and touch him, wasn't he? Now he felt chilled, like a man stranded in a desert in the dead of night. Every piece of his existence pulled at him- _screamed_ at him- to just _run._ He needed to get out of there. He needed to get out. Now.

But he couldn't.

Something was wrong with Pale… And he always had his WWID (What Would Ink Do) mato ready for use at all times, and Ink wouldn't have just up and leave his friend-nemesis in a time of need, would he?...

Without too much warning, Pale crashed into him, causing him to plunge down to the ground right on his ass hard enough to leave a nice, shooting pain in his tailbone, and for Pale to land right on top of him. The impact completely wrecked Template's composure, and his scream was clawing at his throat practically begging to be let out. He tried to force it down- to swallow it- but it still lingered as he resisted the overbearing urge to jump up and take off.

It didn't take but a few milliseconds for him to realize that Pale had his arms wrapped tightly around him, and was basically clinging to his form.

Every single centimeter that composed itself of him wanted to self destruct. He felt as if his body was _screeching_ at him to burst into a run.

'No,' he thought to himself, 'Pale needs me. I can't run. He's suffering some sort of emotional aftermath from destroying an Au and absorbing its essence. I can't run. I can't run. I can't run. I can't run. _I can't run._

"Template, you're shaking," Pale stated in a worried murmur as he loosened his grip, "What's wrong?"

"I-I-I-It's-s-s," he tried hopelessly.

"Template, you're crying?" He whispered.

Template felt something make contact with his forehead,and he hadn't even known that he had clamped his eyes shut until the sudden feeling made him snap them open. The first thing that he saw was grey, but his mind was far too scattered at the moment to actually notice that…

He was shaking…? He was crying…? When did he start doing that? He brought a hand up to his face and felt it… He could feel the warm substance on his face, as well as the heavy trembling of his fingers against his skull… He was shaking… He was crying…

"Template…"

The word was spoken so softly that it could've easily been mistaken as a gust of wind. Strangely enough, it seemed so quiet that it was almost loud, and it stole all of Template's utter attention. He finally focused on the grey that lay meer inches in front of his face that he had been staring blankly, and unseeingly at just moments ago. He couldn't help the surprised yelp that escaped him when he realized that they were actually Pale's eyes.

Stars. He. Got. Closer.

Now they were practically nose to nose and Template almost felt trapped. He felt as if he were in some sort of room, or box and he couldn't get out. In his state of panic, he could hardly spot the worry that spelled itself on his friend's face, but he was able to catch it.

He needed to calm down. He was making things worse. He needed to focus on something- anything else. The closest thing to to his vision was Pale's eyes. That could work.

'Okay,' he thought, 'What color are they? What do they remind you of?'

Template fixed his gaze on Pale's eyes. They were grey, and they reminded him of the color grey…

'That's not going to work… Try again! What grey thing do they remind you of? What does that grey thing do? Think, Template. Think!'

What things are grey? Silver? No, that wasn't the same kind of grey… storm clouds? Now there was something that he could work with.

He could remember the first time that he saw storm clouds. It was during Undertale's first pacifist rout. Template remembered how Frisk had explained to Papyrus that clouds were just evaperated water condensed in the sky just waiting for the perfect moment to become heavy enough to fall down and cleanse the Earth. When that happened they called the water that fell from the sky "rain", which Template thought was strange since it was just regular water, but then again, humans always had a strange way of over complicating everything.

He remembered how the giant grey poufs gathered together in the atmosphere in a way that made them all look like one big, fluffy chunk of grey dyed cotton. Then they would spread across the sky almost flatly except for the edges where they maintained their pouf. After that happened, the condensed group of water would usually crackle and roar before it decorated the sky with blinding webs of purple and white light; a few strips managing to strike the ground every now and then. Sometimes during a fairly rough storm, lighting could come down in crack, after crack, after crack, shaking the world with its impact as if it were nothing but a light weight rattle.

Template felt something carefully graze across his cheek just below his right eye, and it shook him out of his little daydream… That touch just then... It had felt… Nice… He had never identified any kind of touch with that word… ' _nice'_ before...

Suddenly, it was much harder to breathe. His face felt flushed, while the pulse of his soul began to beat even harder than it had been before.

"Pale, " He asked shakily, " c-can y-y-you do that aga-ain?"

He was almost shocked by his own words, and lowered his head in half embarrassment, and half fear in hopes to find something different to look at beside those grey clouds… They were starting to get hard to gaze into... His hopes were immediately crushed when looking down caused him to realize that the other skeleton was seated in a very subductive manor in his lap. This forced his face to burn a deep shade of blue. What in all the universal constellations was Pale feeling right now?

Oh stars…

Now he wished that he hadn't looked down.

Pale grabbed his hand, and he just barely kept from flinching. He felt the palm of his hand be pressed against something smooth, and he shivered. Template looked up to see his hand being held easily into place as it cupped the other skeleton's cheek. Shit. More contact.

Very hesitantly, the protector of AUs slowly lifted his gaze from his hand and he didn't stop until until it reached Pale's cloud grey eyes that he'd been so entranced by the last time he dared to look in. And now he couldn't help but to notice how gentle they were...

Stars this was all so different. Pale was never like this and Template could swear that his soul had skipped a beat… or two… maybe three. Even the little bit of breath he had left was stolen out of his magical lungs.

"Can I try something?" Pale questioned intimately.

Template, with his panic quickly returning in a flood of raging adrenaline, wondered apprehensively if the other skeleton was going to touch him again, but… in a way… he wanted him to touch him again, so he nodded nervously.

With that done, Pale closed in the little distance that had been laying between them, and landed a kiss on his mouth. He felt as if he'd been electrocuted by a million bolts of lightning (he vaguely wondered if it was some sort of power surging from his cloud colored eyes, but brushed it off), and couldn't help the comedic widening of his eyes, nor could he help the way that he almost suffocated on his own breath, nor could he even help the way that his soul practically exploded.

Template didn't have a clue as to how he felt about the turn of events. He couldn't tell if it all completely scared the shit out of him, or if he was in love with all the sensations. He opened his mouth to say something. What that something was, not even Template himself knew, but he opened his mouth nevertheless, and Pale immediately seized the opportunity to slip his tongue in. In surprise, Template gasped, sucking Pale in deeper, and almost choking on his tongue.

He was stuck in a state of conflict that felt like it was going to last forever. He felt like a personified fucking oxymoron. Part of him wanted to spit him out and run, while the other just wanted to just sit there and let Pale do whatever the fuck he wanted to do with him, and he had a nagging feeling that the latter would win.

In attempt to stay upright and not get layed down and feel even more trapped, he took hold of the other skeletons shoulders, but Pale did something completely different in return. Template's body went ridged as the other skeleton's free hand untucked, and slipped underneath his shirt. He began to run his hand over each individual rib and he felt as if he could melt underneath his touch because oh stars it felt amazing. Every single touch built up more suspense than the last, and he moaned into their kiss.

He allowed his arms to relax, and to drape over Pale's shoulders instead of holding them as he allowed himself to become almost overwhelmed in between the sensation of his tongue roaming his mouth, and his hand playing with his sensitive ribs. It all felt so amazingly frightening and he just didn't know what to do. Every single touch terrified him, yet it also made him want to beg for more, to plead for it to never stop. Please don't ever let it stop.

Somewhere along the line of everything, a lump had formed itself inside of his shorts and it was throbbing.

'Ignore it,' he told himself, 'Just ignore it.'

"I love you," Pale breathed in between kisses and gasps for air.

Template froze, his eyes struck wide.

"I love you. I love you so much." Pale breathed again, continuing to kiss him.

Guilt crumbled over top of him like a wall of brick and cinderblock that was broken up by the truth of this reality. This cold and cruel reality… He wanted to _cry..._ He wanted to _scream._

Pale took his free hand and trailed it down to the hem of Template's pants, and began to pull them down, but template grabbed that hand with his own.

"No," He strained, "We c-can't. Th-th-this isn't r-really y-you. You d-don't want this. It's j-just all from the AU you drained. This feeling isn't r-real. It's not p-perminent… In a little while y-y-yo-you'll-l n-never feel this way again."

Their gazes were inseparable, and Pale's were pouring down into Template's like the millions of gallons of the dense, suffocating clouds that they were. He couldn't breathe. He wanted to look away.

"Exactly," he whispered sadly, "I may never be able to feel this way again.., But I'll always be able to remember how it felt. I'll always be able to remember h-how happy that you made me feel. I'll always be able to remember-how you helped me feel love for the first time- maybe last time. That memory will always stay with me. Please, just let me feel it just this once… Let _us_ feel it just this once?"

Template's soul throbbed weakly, and emotion spilled out from his eyes.

"Okay," he agreed, "Okay…"

Pale captured him in another kiss, and it caused him to collapse ontop of the other skeleton in tears.

"Why are you crying," Pale asked in a kind, watery laugh.

"Because," he choked out, "Because I th-think I-I L-love you too."

Pale kissed him again, but then he frowned.

"...It's fading…"

"What!?" Template almost screamed, " What do you mean it's-"

But is question was answered when he looked up into those stormy clouds and saw that they had been erased of any emotion, any passion, any purpose, and any sign of thought. And once again, the destroyer of AUs was almost lifeless.

"No," Template gasped as he took hold of Pale's face with both hands and left kisses all over it, " No, you c-c-can't b-be gone. Y-y-you can't be! Please tell me that you're not gone, Pale. Come on. I love you. Can you say it again?

…

...

...

Please?... Just-st th-i-is o-nce?"

But it was pointless. Pale stared blankly at him, and if he didn't know better he'd say that he was actually staring through him. Template grabbed the other skeletons hand, and gave it a light squeeze as he laid his head on Pale's shoulder… It was still terrifying, but he didn't care…

"Pale,... I-I hope th-at y-you'll always remember the f-fir-st t-t-t-time you f-f-felt love… I kn-ow th-a-at I al-lways wil-l…"


End file.
